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by DINESH WEERAWANSA

Its 23 days to go for the 43-nation Asian Athletic Championships to be held in Colombo in August. This is the 27th in a series of articles in the ANCL English language newspapers, which leads the largest-ever sporting event to be hosted by Sri Lanka. The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL) (Print media sponsor) and Dialog GSM (Sri Lanka team sponsor, official mobile communication provider and the official web designer & hoster) are two of the six Gold sponsors of the event. The official web-site of the meet is: http:// www.asianathletics2002.com

Commonwealth Games in Manchester will be the final international meet for Sri Lanka athletes before the 14th Asian Athletic championships in Colombo next month. Not only for Sri Lankans but for all Commonwealth states in Asia, the Manchester Games would give ideal opportunity for the athletes to test their skills before the four-day Asian athletic extravaganza in Colombo.

For Sri Lanka's top athletes, it will be a greater opportunity to compete against top British and Australian athletes before the Asian Championship. Sri Lanka will field a 15-member athletic team, managed by captain Shemal Fernando of Sri Lanka Navy, for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester later this month.

Jordan yesterday became the 37th country to send in their entries for the Asian championships in Colombo. They will field six men and two women.

In the 'Asian Star Parade', we take a look at men's 100m today. Sri Lanka's likely three entries are Chinthaka de Zoysa, Ravindra Kumara and D.M.P.Caldera, subject to their performance at the Nationals. Ravindra Kumara, who will be in the team to Commonwealth Games, will miss the nationals but his timing in Manchester would be considered. The others who will give them a strong fight to find places are S.P.M. Hemantha, N.S.B. Aludeniya and A.R.M.C. Ramanayake.

Thailand will pose the biggest threat to the big names in Asian sprints. Reanchai Siharwong came first at the Asian Grand Prix meet in Hyderabad and second in Bangkok and Manila. His team mate S. Suwornprateep won two of the Asian Grand prix meets in Manila and Bangkok. Among the others who could press for a medal are Indian Clifford Joshua and Anand Menezes and Oman's Hamoud Abdullah Al-Dalhami. Thai national Suwonprateep has the best timing of the all this season - 10.28 seconds in winning the Asian Grand Prix in Manila.

Star athletes in men's 100m at 2002 Asian Grand Prix series: Hyderabad: 1. Reanchai Siharwong (Tha) 10.55, 2. Clifford Joshua (Ind) 10.57, 3. Anand Menezes (Ind) 10.57, 4. Sittuichai Suwaraprateep (Tha) 10.68, 5. Piyush Kumar (Ind) 10.71, 6. Denis Kondratyev (Kaz) 10.76. Bangkok: 1. S. Suwornprateep (Tha) 10.62, Reanchai Siharwong (Tha) 10.70, 3. Clifford Joshua (Ind) 10.77, 4. Anand Menezes (Ind) 10.79, 5. Hamood Abdullah Said Al Daihami (Omn) 10.81, 6. Denis Kondratyev (Kaz) 10.88. Manila: 1.S. Suwonprateep (Tha) 10.28w, 2. Reanchai Siharwong (Tha) 10.47w, 3. Denis Kondratyev (Kaz) 10.51w, 4.Clifford Joshua (Ind) 10.54w, 5. Hamoud Abdullah Al-Dalhami (Omn) 10.55w, 6. Mohamed Abdullah Al-Houti (Omn)10.58.

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